After August Busch bought the team in 1953, Sportsman Park was renovated and renamed Busch Stadium. During that renovation, the ballpark was decorated with what we call action birds. These birds are in baseball action poses, such as Slugger Bird, Diving Bird, Catching Bird, Running Bird, etc.
We can see faint images of these banners hung up throughout the stadium, but we have no clear photography of them.
It is our assumption that one of those cartoon birds, the Slugger Bird, was also used on the scoreboard in left field. This Slugger Bird was lit up with neon lights and actually went through a swinging pose, similar to the Anheuser Busch flapping eagle neon on highway 40. We do have clearer photos of Scoreboard bird, as we call it, and we have redrawn and preserved its likeness.
We love these birds, we love the idea of these birds, and we are very interested in finding the other birds to complete the set.
History Mysteries:
Did the other cartoon action bird banners survive?
Are there any clear photos of these birds?
Who was the artist who created these birds?
Cardinals Uniforms & Logos 